Puffy Paint Fun

Posted November 4th 2010 at 6:00 pm by Milk & Honey Mommy

We didn’t do as much arts & crafts as I planned for the summer. Heck, we didn’t do too much of anything that I’d planned this summer. All I know is that summer is gone and I’ve given up on figuring out how I missed it all. This is one crafty project we did manage to complete before the weather changed so abruptly on us here.

For some reason, when I first saw it (I’m still looking for the blog where I found it.), I knew the kids would enjoy it. One of the reasons I put it off for so long was because it calls for self-rising flour and I was trying to figure out what I would do with all of that flour after we used what we needed. Do you have any tasty recipes that call for self-rising flour? I hardly ever use it, but will save the left over for something or I guess I could just make big batches of puffy paint until we use it all up. Something tells me we’ll be spending a lot of cold days indoors.

Even though we did this project outdoors, something tells me that it might come in handy as an indoor activity as the ridiculously frigid weather comes and decides to stay for a few months. I can feel it in the air (it’s her, it’s here) and I’m just a little bit scared.

This shot is strictly for the “cute factor!”

This shot is to give you an idea about how messy this project can be, but when you’re doing arts & crafts, a little bit of messiness is to be expected; at least when my children are involved.

When I first made playdough with the kids, I learned my lesson about keeping extra salt on hand. We go through containers.

I let everyone make his own favorite color.

There were cautious hands and…

smiling faces, which always makes a group project more fun.

Lily is so easily impressed.

After creating a few basic colors, we were finally ready to paint. There is truly something to be said about patience, which I really don’t have time to get into right now.

We used old cereal boxes that I had been saving for months. I didn’t know what for, but I knew the time would come and I would be thankful for crowding the wasted empty space between my washing machine and dryer with these boxes and I was right. Always trust your “mother instinct.”

Creative juices flowed.

They all came up with some really nice pictures (we made a few each).

I even pulled a little artsy-crafty out of myself and created this masterpiece. Aha! I betcha didn’t know I had it in me.

1 TBS self-rising flour
food coloring
1 TBS salt
water

1. Mix the flour and salt in a cereal sized bowl.
2. Add enough water (about 1-2 TBS) to create a smooth (not sloopy) paste.
3. Add food coloring to desired shade of color.
4. Once the painting is finished, microwave it on high for about 10-30 seconds. The time will vary depending upon the thickness of your paint.
5. Once microwaving is complete, remove and allow to cool.